Avalanche forecast

Kananaskis

Mar 2 – 3, 2017Alberta Parks
View on map
Archived · expired 10 years ago

Avalanche danger

Fri
Sat
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
Open full map

Highlights

Snow and strong winds are building the wind slabs.  Careful route finding to minimize exposure is recommended.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    2–3
    This wind slab problem includes the last 2-3 days. Continued winds are seen moving snow well into the tree line.

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    2–3
    The buried hard slab and/or facet layer is still intact. Convex terrain at treeline seems to be the most troubling areas.

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    2–4
    This layer is weak and should not be trusted.

Confidence

-

Weather Forecast

Continued moderate to strong winds from the SW are forecast well into Saturday.  Friday's forecast indicates 12cm of snow and alpine temperature up to -6c.

Avalanche Summary

No avalanches observed today.  This will probably change with the forecasted snow and continued winds.

Snowpack Summary

Continued moderate to strong SW winds are building the wind slabs in the alpine and open areas at tree line.  Lee features and cross loaded gullies are very loaded and touchy.  With the forecasted snow and continued winds, the likelihood of triggering an avalanche is increasing.A snow profile was dug today at tree line at Burstall Pass showing us that the lower half of the snowpack is weak consisting mostly of depth hoar.  Test results indicated failure in the depth hoar 75cm off the ground.  This is a concern as there is a well settled snowpack above this weak layer and if triggered from a weak spot, there could be a very large avalanche.

Regions covered